Morgana was not happy about being woken up from his evening catnap. Whoever this scarfaced redhead was, he was even worse than Ryuji, and Morgana definitely didn't want him anywhere near Leblanc.

Morgana glared at him with icy blue eyes from on top of the stone wall as the fiery-haired young man barged past, cursing and tramping and raising a ruckus. Add on the sabers slung across his back and side, his dirty and ripped camo outfit and his thuglike features, and it really wasn't surprising that Morgana instantly disliked the guy.

The man leaned on a nearby dumpster, still cussing up a storm. He noticed Morgana glaring at him and looked the not-cat in the eyes. "Got a problem, cat?" he demanded rudely.

"Try me, asshole," Morgana hissed at him. There was no way that the man would understand him, but the hiss that he inevitably heard would no doubt get his point across.

"What, you lookin' to die?" Scarface spat. "Cuz I got no qualms about flaying you alive right here, you know."

Morgana scowled at his rude tone before getting to his feet, sticking his tongue out at the stranger in a very human gesture. Scarface blinked in surprise, and Morgana moved to leave, but a sword suddenly slashed against the wall where he'd previously been resting.

"Damn cat! I'll kill you!" Scarface yelled, slashing with his sword again. Morgana skipped away from the blade and darted down to the ground. Scarface tried to chase him with the edge of his saber, but Morgana was still a small cat, so he swiftly darted in, jabbed a claw at the stranger's leg, and sped off down the alley, the stranger chasing after him and cursing the entire way.

Then curse magic started to erupt around him, making Morgana yelp in surprise. Evidently, this man was a rogue Persona-user. Well, two can play at that game, Morgana thought, whipping his tail at the man as he turned the corner, still running. He didn't see the wind spell hit, but it would at least slow him down a little. The next moment though, he noticed who was standing in front of him and he suddenly wasn't thinking about the scar-faced stranger anymore.

Sho Minazuki had had a really trying day. He'd finally managed to make it to Tokyo to look for his nemesis, but hadn't managed to outrun the yakuza thugs trying to capture him for whatever reason, and he'd only managed to lose them by making it to the labyrinthine alleyways of Yongen-Jaya. He'd managed to get lost in no time at all, had to dodge cops looking for a suspicious person (him, no doubt) twice, and just when he found a place that seemed deserted enough for him to find a place to sleep, he gets mocked and outwitted by a cat that somehow summoned wind magic.

A cat that was now sitting on the shoulders of a black-coated young man in a white, birdlike domino mask.

Annoyed, the man pulled on one of the cat's ears. "I thought I told you to stop dragging me into your problems, Morgana," he addressed it. The cat meowed in protest, swatting the man's hand away with a paw before meowing again and scampering off to a gap between two buildings that neither of the humans could fit through.

The man turned to Sho. "Alright, so who are you, and why do you have a problem with my cat?"

"Oh, it's yours, is it?" Sho spat. "Well, how about when I cat-ch it, I'll let you watch me kill it so you know what happens to people who mock me!"

There was a protesting yowl from the gap where the cat had gone, and Black Coat shot an unamused look in that direction. "Alright, I don't think we need to go that far," he told Sho. "I'm sure we can all just apologize and put this behind us."

"Hell no, Black-Coat," Sho snarled, yanking the other sword off his belt. "I've had a really trying day, and I really want to fight someone. Lucky for me, you arrived."

The look on the other man's face immediately went flat and his steel-gray eyes burned. He flexed his fingers as he adjusted his crimson gloves. "You sure you want to do that?" he asked coldly.

Sho grinned as he felt the aura coming off of him. Whoever this guy was, he was strong! Sho was already getting riled up just thinking about it. "Hell, yeah, I'm sure! Hahaha, you might actually prove to be a challenge! Come on! Let's fight already! Hell, if you're good enough, it might even make up for this shitty day I've had!"

The man blinked in surprise. Then his eyes narrowed and his mouth twisted in a devilish smirk. There was a flash of blue fire and a silver dagger appeared in his hand. "May I know the name of the man I have the honor of fighting?"

Sho gave a bark of laughter before adopting a battle stance. "Sho. Sho Minazuki. And don't worry, if you're good enough, I'll even do my best to avoid killing you! Hahaha!"

The other man's grin twisted even more devilishly. "Then you may call me...Joker."

Sho laughed again. "Joker! Hahaha! I'd think that of the two of us, I'm the one more similar to that guy from American comics!"

Joker let out a short, amused huff. "You want to know why I'm called Joker?"

Sho grinned. "Please, enlighten me."

A small round item dropped into Joker's hand from his sleeve.

"I'm a Wild Card."

The smoke bomb burst open against the asphalt and completely enshrouded Joker's form. The next thing he knew, the masked man darted in from the side. Sho barely dodged the sideswiping dagger and Joker spun on heel and dashed back at Sho, moving with inhuman speed as Sho counterstruck with his dual sabers.

The first couple exchanges were so fast the human eye could barely comprehend them, but even so, Sho knew that he had the advantage in straight combat. Joker's single knife just wasn't sufficient to maintain a solid offensive against a man with two swords. That still didn't stop Joker from putting up a hell of a solid fight though. He spun, he kicked, he swapped his dagger between his hands, he even disengaged for brief moments to do walljumps and flips to mess with Sho's perception and strike from the flanks again.

Sho brought down one of his sabers, but Joker was already gone, having made an impossible backflip onto the top of a nearby stone wall. "Morgana said you had curse magic," he mentioned. "So you're a Persona-user, right?"

In answer, Sho summoned Tsukuyomi and blasted the place where Joker was standing with curse energy, but as expected, he was already gone.

"Thought so," Joker remarked, going through his list of Personas in his head. Best to avoid using Metatron for now, but maybe…

Sho blasted Joker with another Eigaon, but a Persona manifested behind Joker. The blast reflected off of Joker and slammed Sho in the chest. His own deflected magic made him stumble back, but did no damage.

"Huh," Joker remarked, reabsorbing Odin into his mask. "Looks like you're immune to your own element. Try to keep up though! Vishnu!"

A four-armed, golden-skinned Persona manifested behind Joker and blasted Sho with wind magic. The shocked redhead managed to dodge the first gust, but the second caught him in the legs and almost cast him to the ground. Sho summoned Tsukuyomi again and had him attack with his sword, but Joker danced out of the way, barely avoiding the black edge.

"Zaou-Gongen!" Joker chanted now, summoning a blue-skinned Japanese deity that swung at him and Tsukuyomi with its fist. Tsukuyomi took most of the hit, crossing its arms and blade in front of it to take the blow, and while Sho still definitely felt it and it cracked the asphalt under them, the blow was fairly ineffective.

"Resistant to Physical. Troublesome," Joker muttered. He recalled Zaou-Gongen and threw down another smoke bomb as Sho moved to attack again. Sho kept his guard up, but even so was too late to react when Joker summoned yet another Persona while he was facing the other direction. "Ardha, Freidyne!"

The sudden explosion of blue energy sent pain searing through every nerve in Sho's body. Tsukuyomi evaporated as Sho was sent tumbling across the pavement, almost losing one of his swords and barely holding in a scream.

"Ooh, lucky me," Joker taunted. "Looks like nuclear magic is your weakness." He crouched on top of the wall and narrowed his eyes at the downed Sho. "Let me guess, that's the first time someone's actually hit you with yours, isn't it?"

Sho clambered to his feet and charged with a loud cry. Joker only smirked.

"Lucifer."

Sho brought down both of his blades, but Joker only reached out his hands and grabbed them, bringing up a foot and stomp-kicking Sho away down the street as the six-winged devil Persona appeared behind him. Joker tossed the swords away as Sho summoned Tsukuyomi again, blasting Joker with curse energy that he simply absorbed, the curse energy healing him instead. Joker raised one hand to the heavens, colorless magic gathering in his palm, and as he looked down and gave Sho a devilish smirk, the scar-faced young man felt dread for the first time in years.

"Morning Star."

The incredible blast of Almighty magic completely enveloped Sho, and the entire world turned white.

Joker hopped down from the wall, still with Lucifer equipped, and brushed himself off. Sho was still alive, albeit groaning in semiconscious pain on the ground. Still, he'd been tougher than Joker had expected. It was honestly fairly lucky that Joker happened to have a Persona that both blocked physical attacks and absorbed curse magic. The Phantom Thief stepped forward, intending to switch to a healing Persona, but then several men in suits who had no doubt been watching the fight suddenly emerged from the nearby buildings and surrounded the downed Sho.

Joker narrowed his eyes as a couple of them leveled assault rifles at him, as though they could keep him at bay. "What do you lot think you're doing?"

"Arresting him," the leader told him, looking up at the Phantom Thief with a charismatic smile. "This guy has been causing quite a bit of trouble these last few days, so we're going to make sure he answers for that."

"Oh really?" came an androgynous voice. Naoto Shirogane stepped out from the other end of the street, one hand on her hip. "If you're arresting him, then where are your badges, 'officers'?"

The leader took one look at her and paled. "Shit!"

The two thugs who'd had their rifles trained on Joker suddenly swiveled and opened fire on Naoto, but their bullets hit a transparent magical barrier and ricocheted back, hitting their shooters before they'd even loosed half a dozen rounds each.

"Tetrakarn," Joker noted. "Smart precaution."

"I'm not a detective for nothing," Naoto replied.

In desperation, two of the other thugs tried to shoot Joker, but Lucifer's aura completely nullified their rounds. Joker then proceeded to cackle at their bewildered and horrified expressions as they realized that their best weapons wouldn't work. Two minutes later, the entire suit squad was down on their stomachs, hands behind their heads, pleading for mercy. Joker and Naoto had Lucifer and Yamato Sumeragi stand guard over them as they carried Sho off to Leblanc. Well, it was more accurate to say that Joker carried him slung over his shoulder while Naoto walked next to him.

"What brings you to Yongen?" Joker asked as they entered the alley.

"This guy actually," Naoto tapped Sho on the head. "My team and the Shadow Operatives encountered him several years ago when he tried to erase everyone in the world except himself, but we beat him and Yu essentially became his rival. The people back at the office started getting reports of a guy whose description fit him earlier this afternoon, so I was tracking him down when he met you. Hopefully he can tell you who those guys were and why they wanted him," she finished as they walked into the closed café.

"Kinda weak for someone who tried to wipe out humanity," Joker remarked.

"Well, he's not drawing power from a god this time," Naoto inferred. "And you just naturally had an advantage."

"Yeah, if I hadn't known he used mostly curse magic beforehand, I probably would've gotten hit a few times," Joker admitted. "It may have also helped that he wasn't expecting me to be a Wild Card like Yu. Still, he was pretty damn skilled with those sabers, and there aren't a lot of Personas that are strong against physical attacks."

The thief and the detective both climbed the stairs up to Leblanc's attic, where Joker opened the door into the Thieves' Den. "What do you want to do with him when he wakes up?" Joker asked.

"He can stay here for now," Naoto answered. "Better your group take him than me. I doubt that police holding cells are likely to work on him for long."

"In that case, maybe I can convince Oracle to rework the lock on the entrance to the Thieves' Den to isolate whichever room I end up putting him in," Joker mentioned. "Might hold him for a while if he doesn't have a door to open."

"A fair plan for now," Naoto replied. "But he needs time to heal and open up to people. Trying to keep him in jail forever will only make things worse."

"I'm still not risking my team," Joker insisted. "If he agrees not to cause too much trouble, we can let him go, but if not, you and Kirijo-san can do what you want with him."

"I'll see if I can get ahold of Yu-kun or Mitsuru-san in the meantime so we can bring him to the Shadow Operatives' headquarters," Naoto agreed. "Hopefully we can get him to talk to someone before that though."

I had almost forgotten about the Velvet Room.

No sooner had I closed my eyes in the real world than I opened them again at the back of a long blue banquet hall, Igor giving me a beaming smile and a slow round of applause from his seat at the front of the room, Saraiah at his side with joyful emotions beaming from every inch of her face.

"Well done!" he congratulated me. "Very well done, indeed, young Anomaly! How does it feel to have faced your Shadow and awakened to your first true Persona?"

"Honestly? It really hurt while it was happening," I answered, "but now that I've had a day to recuperate, it feels amazing."

"Very good," Igor stated. "And now that you have no further use for the Vane of Order that previously lodged itself in your flesh, you shall be granted access to the services of the Velvet Room. Saraiah, if you would."

"Sure, boss!" Saraiah said brightly. "The first service the Velvet Room grants all Wild Cards is Persona Fusions. If you gather Personas and bring them here, my master and I will fuse them into new, stronger Personas." She held up a thick book that previously rested on the table before her. "This is your Persona Compendium. It lists the full collection of all the Personas you have obtained so far, and using it and a fee of Blueglass, you can re-summon any Persona you have previously owned."

"What's Blueglass?" I inquired.

"A new system we're using here in the Velvet Room," Saraiah said proudly. "Every Shadow you defeat or loot in the real world now gives you a sort of credit to you here in the Velvet Room, represented by your personal Hourglass." Saraiah brought out a five-inch-high hourglass, the top filled with blue sand and a small layer coating the bottom. The top of the hourglass was emblazoned with my silver claw symbol. "The credit points you store up here in this Hourglass can then be spent to manage your personas here in the Velvet Room."

"So fusions isn't all I can get?" I asked.

"Nope!" Saraiah said cheerily. "You will be informed of the rest once you have attained a sufficient level."

"Got it," I told her. I looked at Igor. "Is there any chance I can re-summon either Quasimodo or Velociraptor?" I asked.

"They should be in the Compendium," Igor replied, gesturing for Saraiah to open the book.

Saraiah had barely opened the Compendium when she said, "Ah, Quasimodo, right at the beginning. Fool Arcana. Now let's see here...empty...empty...ah! Here: Velociraptor. Huh. Didn't expect it to be of the Devil Arcana."

I was confused. "What? But...the only bond I have so far is Star."

Igor gave a slight chuckle. "You performed quite the feat by summoning this Persona on your own, even if it was in an incomplete form. I advise you not to worry overmuch on how it was created. Simply be glad that it was, and that you managed to defeat your Shadow in doing so."

"Uh, Boss?" Saraiah suddenly asked. "Why does it say this is a 'Special Persona'?"

"Hmm?" Igor turned so as to better stare down his long nose into the Compendium and look at the ominously glittering words. He started to chuckle again. "Well, well, young Anomaly," he addressed me. "It seems that you have inadvertently managed to unlock a special string of Personas."

"Wait, I have?" Now I was even more confused.

Igor explained, "Normally, all Personas belong to one of the twenty-two basic Arcana, and each is unlocked as a Wild Card proceeds along their journey, though for the most part, there are only so many skills a Persona can learn before it must be fused with another to learn new skills. Even Hephaestus you will eventually have to fuse, or you will never unlock higher tiers of spells. However, it seems that Personas of this 'Special' variety are not as limited, and can continue to grow along with their user."

"Are you serious!?" I exclaimed. "But, doesn't that remove the need for fusions and such?"

Igor chuckled. "Hardly, young Anomaly. There is a reason why this has so rarely happened before, why use of Special Personas is rarely ever employed. This is because you can possess only one for each Arcana, and furthermore, it must be based on the purest representation of the part of yourself that relates to that Arcana. Do you understand?"

"Uh, not entirely, no."

"Then allow me to clarify." Saraiah for once looked deadly serious as she shut the Compendium. "Special Personas are extremely hard to summon or to fuse because they require the Wild Card to know the extent of the deepest depths of their hearts. Most of the time, this level of introspection is only achieved after a Wild Card completes their journey."

"Oh."

"And furthermore," Igor picked up again, "while the Personas themselves are powerful and capable of growing with the user, in their growth they are rigid. As you continue to increase your power and further unlock the many services of the Velvet Room, you will be able to further customize your Personas, even allowing you to change their skills and attributes to better amplify your own abilities. But Special Personas cannot be altered in this way, because in essence, they are the purest form of a part of your own soul. And the deepest recesses of a Person's soul, even if they are a Wild Card, are not so easy to change."

I took a deep breath. "I understand. Still, I would like to summon Velociraptor again."

"Very well," Igor motioned to the floor above the step in front of his table, where a large circle with the seal of the velvet room was woven into the carpet.

Saraiah stepped around the table to the edge of the seal, carrying the Compendium and my Hourglass. "Some of the Blueglass you've collected these past few months from hunting Shadows was used to fuse Velociraptor the first time, but you still have quite the stock left. This should only take a jiffy."

Opening the Compendium to the right page, she directed me to stand on the other side of the seal from her before stretching out her hand over it. A blue light began to trace the circle around the edge of the seal, and after a couple of revolutions, the entire design began to glow brightly. There was a slight pause, and then the seal flashed brightly, even as Saraiah gave a slight cry of surprise. When the light faded, the newly summoned Persona was similar to Velociraptor, but it was twice the size, its shoulders now level with my elbows, with a blunter snout and longer arms. Its name sprang unbidden to my lips.

"Deinonychus."

The Persona chirped in recognition. "I am Deinonychus, the Terrible Claw. As your Devil Arcana, I am thou and thou art I until the end of the world." The Persona turned into a ball of cerulean light and vanished into my chest, where I felt Hephaestus warmly welcome it.

I looked at Igor. "I wasn't expecting that."

Igor chuckled. "It would seem that that is the true, completed form of the Persona you summoned to fight your Shadow. I highly doubt you will ever be able to summon the incomplete form again, but that is of little loss."

"Well, now that that's done," Saraiah commented, holding up my Hourglass, "you still have a fair amount of Blueglass left. Would you like Quasimodo back?"

"Hold off on that for now," I told her before turning back to Igor. "Can I try to summon another Special Persona if I get more Personas to fuse into it?"

Igor raised an eyebrow curiously. "While it would certainly be an achievement for you to be the first to obtain two Special Personae, it would be unwise to do so when you have not yet forged a bond of the appropriate Arcana. Furthermore, you must know enough about your connection to the Arcana you have established to give it form. Do you think you can do so at this time?"

I frowned. "Alright, you make a good point. But since I have already established my Star Arcana bond, can you please tell me what that represents so I can figure it out?"

"Very well," Igor replied easily. "The Star Arcana while upright represents hope and faith, as well as purpose, generosity, and spirituality, but when reversed, it represents despair, a lack of faith, selfishness, and disconnection."

"Thank you," I told him.

A bell toned somewhere off in the distance. "Ah, it seems our time here is up," Igor noted. "The next time you come here, it will be of your own volition. Pleasant dreams, young Anomaly."